Towards Cross-Border Innovation Spaces: A theoretical analysis and empirical comparison of the Öresund region and the Centrope area

Due to strong regionalization tendencies in many parts of the world, the political collapse in Central and Eastern Europe and the continuing enlargement of the European Union crossborder regions have grown considerably in number and importance in the last years. There is a widespread agreement in the academic literature that in the emerging globalized knowledge economy the competitive strength of these areas increasingly rests on their capacity to create an integrated innovation space. The focus of this paper is on a theoretical analysis of different stages in the development of cross-border regional innovation systems and on a comparative analysis of the innovation capabilities of two cross-border areas in Europe, the Öresund region, composed of Southern Sweden and Eastern Denmark, and the Centrope area, which is located at the intersection of Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. Departing from the regional innovation system approach, in a first step we will identify conceptually crucial preconditions and key determinants for the rise of transfrontier innovation systems. From an evolutionary perspective cross-border regional innovation systems could be seen as the last and most advanced form of cross-border integration building on the success of previous incremental but less advanced modes of integration. We will discuss a conceptual framework describing the different stages of such a process and we will examine how the prospects for a successful development vary between different geographical settings. This is followed by a comparative analysis of the innovation capacity of the Öresund region and the Centrope area. A special emphasis will be given on comparing the interplay of critical economic, socioinstitutional and political factors, and the main barriers for establishing a cross-border regional innovation system. Our results suggest that the Öresund region and the Centrope area differ enormously regarding their capacity to develop an integrated innovation space.

Growth cycles: transformation and regional development

Departing from the renewed interest within economic history and neo-Schumpeterian perspectives on growth and economic transformation, we will suggest a theoretical framework for analyzing long term regional economic growth and transformation. Emphasis will be given to different driving forces and their various roles over time, lead-lag relations between industries and how divergence and convergence between regions shift cyclically as consequences of technological change, market integration and economic growth. We claim that systemic approaches in general have been neglected in regional science in favor of “neoregionalism” in the sense that the study of regional growth has been focusing for years on regional innovation systems and cluster theories without any regard to systemic relations at all. Using detailed time series data and applying a systemic approach we will follow Swedish regions from the structural crises in the mid 1970s to the starting point of the present financial crises. Our results suggest that there are time lags as well as systemic spatial asymmetries between industries and regions leading to changing patterns of divergence and convergence in the regional system. Furthermore, there are indications that the regional disparities between centre and periphery have increased compared to the situation in the mid 1970s.

Regional Economies: a Threat to the Nation-State?

Abstract not availabl

Can foundational economy save regions in crisis?

We perform, to our best knowledge, the first systematic mapping of the foundational economy (FE) at the sub-national level by looking at the FE employment in Swedish regions between 2007 and 2016. We show that the FE itself not only suffered less than traded activities from employment decline during the Great Recession of 2007–2009 but was also a domain of substantial job creation in the post-crisis recovery. At the same time, regions with higher dependence on foundational employment were hit harder during the crisis in terms of overall labour market performance. We demonstrate that it is specific compositions of foundational and traded activities in the regional employment mix that relate differently to regional employment growth in times of crisis and recovery. Jointly, these findings allow us to contribute to the literatures on the FE and regional resilience.publishedVersio

Who Needs Agglomeration? Varying Agglomeration Externalities and the Industry Life Cycle

In this paper, the changing roles of agglomeration externalities during different stages of the industry life cycle are investigated. A central argument is that agglomeration externalities vary with mode of competition, innovation intensity, and characteristics of learning opportunities in industries. Following the Industry Life Cycle perspective, we distinguish between young and mature industries, and investigate how these benefit from MAR, Jacobs’ and Urbanization externalities. The empirical analysis builds on a Swedish plant level dataset that covers the period of 1974-2004.The outcomes of panel data regression models show that the benefits industries derive from their local environment are strongly associated with their stage in the industry life cycle. Whereas MAR externalities increase with the maturity of industries, Jacobs’ externalities decline when industries are more mature. This is in line with the hypothesis that young industries operate in an environment dominated by rapid product innovation and low levels of standardization. Hence, it pays off when knowledge can be sourced locally from many different sources, but there is still little scope for specialization benefits. Mature industries, in contrast, are associated with lower innovation intensities and a focus on cost saving process innovations. Therefore, there are major benefits to be derived from specialization, whereas knowledge spillovers from different industries are less relevant. The distinction between the product competition in young industries and price competition in mature industries is reflected in our finding that high regional factor costs are detrimental to mature industries, but not to young industries. This can also be related to the finding that high quality living environments, attractive for highly paid employees, are important to young industries. Overall, the outcomes stress that industrial life cycles have to be taken into account in the analysis of agglomeration externalities.agglomeration externalities, industry life cycle, urbanization, Sweden

The Dynamics of Agglomeration Externalities along the Life Cycle of Industries

This paper investigates the changing roles of agglomeration externalities along the industry life cycle. We argue that industries have different agglomeration needs in different stages of their life cycles because their mode of competition, innovation intensity, and characteristics of learning opportunities change over time. For 12 Swedish manufacturing industries, we determined for each year between 1974 and 2004 whether the industry was in a young, intermediate, or mature stage. Whereas MAR externalities steadily increased with the maturity of industries, the effect of local diversity (Jacobs’ externalities) was positive for young industries but declined and even became negative for more mature industries

Agency and economic change in regions: identifying routes to new path development using qualitative comparative analysis

This paper investigates the role of human agency in 40 phases of regional economic development in 12 Nordic regions over 30 years. It contributes with a theoretical framework to study agency over time and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on a unique dataset combining over 200 interviews, with printed and online sources, and quantitative data. The paper identifies which combinations of agency types and context conditions make industrial upgrading or diversification possible, and investigates how such combinations come into being. The causal claims from this analysis are illustrated with empirical examples and discussed in relation to previous literature.Agency and economic change in regions: identifying routes to new path development using qualitative comparative analysispublishedVersio

Towards Cross-Border Innovation Spaces. A theoretical analysis and empirical comparison of the Öresund region and the Centrope area.

Due to strong regionalization tendencies in many parts of the world, the political collapse in Central and Eastern Europe and the continuing enlargement of the European Union crossborder regions have grown considerably in number and importance in the last years. There is a widespread agreement in the academic literature that in the emerging globalized knowledge economy the competitive strength of these areas increasingly rests on their capacity to create an integrated innovation space. The focus of this paper is on a theoretical analysis of different stages in the development of cross-border regional innovation systems and on a comparative analysis of the innovation capabilities of two cross-border areas in Europe, the Öresund region, composed of Southern Sweden and Eastern Denmark, and the Centrope area, which is located at the intersection of Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. Departing from the regional innovation system approach, in a first step we will identify conceptually crucial preconditions and key determinants for the rise of transfrontier innovation systems. From an evolutionary perspective cross-border regional innovation systems could be seen as the last and most advanced form of cross-border integration building on the success of previous incremental but less advanced modes of integration. We will discuss a conceptual framework describing the different stages of such a process and we will examine how the prospects for a successful development vary between different geographical settings.(...)Series: SRE - Discussion Paper

Growth cycles: transformation and regional development

Departing from the renewed interest within economic history and neo-Schumpeterian perspectives on growth and economic transformation, we will suggest a theoretical framework for analyzing long term regional economic growth and transformation. Emphasis will be given to different driving forces and their various roles over time, lead-lag relations between industries and how divergence and convergence between regions shift cyclically as consequences of technological change, market integration and economic growth. We claim that systemic approaches in general have been neglected in regional science in favor of "neoregionalism" in the sense that the study of regional growth has been focusing for years on regional innovation systems and cluster theories without any regard to systemic relations at all. Using detailed time series data and applying a systemic approach we will follow Swedish regions from the structural crises in the mid 1970s to the starting point of the present financial crises. Our results suggest that there are time lags as well as systemic spatial asymmetries between industries and regions leading to changing patterns of divergence and convergence in the regional system. Furthermore, there are indications that the regional disparities between centre and periphery have increased compared to the situation in the mid 1970s.(author's abstract)Series: SRE - Discussion Paper

Creative destruction and economic welfare in Swedish regions: spatial dimensions of structural change, growth and employment

In its aim to explore some of the concrete consequences of regional renewal, this paper deals with the question to what extent dramatic structural transformation and renewal in Swedish regions is paralleled by favourable developments of household income, employment growth and value added total growth. We stud ied the period 1978 to 2004, building on previous research concerning the regional consequences of the dramatic technology-shift process that has been taking place in Sweden. Long-term changes in the relationships between Swedish regions are analysed by establishing conceptual connections between regional long-term economic transformation and welfare. It is argued that there are time- lags as well as systemic spatial asymmetries when it comes to technology- induced restructuring, overall regional economic growth, employment creation, and income growth. We used data from the DEVIL (Databases of Evolutionary Economic Geography in Lund) combined with additional data sets from Statistics Sweden. (authors' abstract)Series: SRE - Discussion Paper